THR LOWER CONGO—BANANA POINT TO Vivi. 29 
steamers or the merchants at Banana to sell. Here, in 
this village near Kisange are young mandrils with their 
little leaden-blue faces gazing at you wistfully from the 
doorway of some native hut. In neatly-made wicker-work 
cages constructed from the light pithy wood of the baobab, 
many birds are awaiting the departure of their captors for 
Banana. Here isa green parrot,* green with a few red 
splashes on the wings, something like—perhaps somewhat 
allied to—the Amazon parrot of South America. Number- 
less little “ cordons-bleus,”’ waxbills, and weaver birds, are 
twittering in their really pretty cages. A poor little 
Galago lemur sits, huddled and stupid, in his wicker prison, 
stunned by the bright daylight to which he is exposed. The 
sight of all these living things is too much for me; and 
although I know how impossible it is to keep live creatures 
when you are travelling, I yield to the clamorous natives, 
and buy a cage of rare barbets (one of which 1s illustrated 
on p. 28), five in a charming little cage for a shilling, or at 
least for a shilling’s worth of cloth at the neighbouring 
factory. 
_ Kisange is very nearly an island,f being encircled by two 
arms of the Congo which only dry up occasionally in the 
dry season; on the mainland, where the land is really 
firm, more game is present than on the islands and marshy 
banks of the river. Harnessed antelopes,f bush-bucks,§ 
Cobus and Cephalophus antelopes are found in certain 
quantities. Crocodiles are not so numerous here as 
towards Boma, where they become a positive pest. As an 
illustration of their boldness and rapacity, I will cite the 
following incident which has recently been reported to 
me from this part of the Congo. A Portuguese merchant 
was descending: the river in “his large native canoe. He 
was seated on a chair in the bow, and, as the canoe glided 
along, he noticed a large crocodile keeping up with it, 
and swimming under water. He paid but little attention 
the creature’ Ss movements, merely noting its constant 
eg ae Lene 
1, Pik 
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ae 
NSE, 
eiee So 
i Xo et Cieee te haa = 
HS IRA TE Cee ne hI, OAS ST ERS: 
’ 
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4 ree: — 
re a 
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Pococephalus robustus. 
3 ft Kisange in Kongo means “ island,” 
ae 7 { Zragelaphus scriptus, § TZ. gratus. 
